Ferry woes no match for keen tennis fans
It was difficult to determine which was coveted more: a ticket to watch Pete Sampras and Roger Federer at the Venetian yesterday or a ferry ticket to and from Macau.
The 12,000 tickets for the exhibition match between the two tennis greats had long been sold out but Venetian Macau Resort Hotel president Mark Brown said on Friday he had been inundated with requests from people for tickets.
'Everybody wants to be here on Saturday,' Mr Brown said. 'There's not a ticket to be had.'
But as match time neared, transport became a pertinent issue and there was a scarcity of tickets for ferries running between Hong Kong and Macau.
Many fans could not secure tickets during the relevant times before and after the 2pm match and some were forced to leave Hong Kong at 7.30am, while others went to Macau on Friday.
'We tried to come today but we had problems getting some tickets so we arrived on Friday,' Peggy Yeoh said.
Ms Yeoh, who won the online charity auction for signed Roger Federer memorabilia, said she attempted to buy match-day ferry tickets a couple of weeks ago, but was unable to secure seats.
On Friday and yesterday, a handful of scalpers could be seen offering tickets at the ferry terminal in Macau at HK$250 for a HK$170 ticket.
Ross Li See-loh booked his ticket to Macau online late Friday night and found space on yesterday's 7.30am ferry.
Some of his friends went on Friday night while others, with advance tickets, went on yesterday's 11.30am ferry.
Mr Li, who had not booked a ticket from Macau, said he expected to wait till today to leave.
Crowded ferries and extended lineups at immigration counters were reminiscent of Manchester United's visit in July, when the sold-out match left fans stranded in Macau until 4am the next morning.
But for fans like Ms Yeoh, transport problems were not an issue, and did not detract from her enjoyment of the match.
'I'm a huge tennis fan,' she said. 'You're talking to the wrong person.'
Some Hong Kong fans even paid HK$2,000 for a helicopter trip.
'We were completely booked out today,' a Heli Express employee said yesterday.
